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Chandigarh Congress president Subhash Chawla resigns, stays mum on reason
Appointed in February 2021 in the run up to the Chandigarh municipal corporation polls, the two-time mayor had been on the firing line ever since the party lost majorly to new entrant AAP and couldn’t even secure the second place, which was grabbed by the BJP
Amid the ongoing crisis in the Congress, party’s Chandigarh unit president Subhash Chawla on Saturday resigned from his post while maintaining silence on the reason.
Appointed in February 2021 in the run up to the municipal corporation (MC) polls, the two-time mayor had been on the firing line ever since the party lost majorly to new entrant AAP and couldn’t even secure the second place, which was grabbed by the BJP.
“I have submitted my resignation to the party high command,” Chawla confirmed, without elaborating on the reasons, which he said he will hold a briefing on soon. Party’s Chandigarh affairs in-charge Harish Chaudhary was not available for comments.
Considered former railways minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s protege, Chawla tendered his resignation three days after Congress councillor from ward 20, Gurcharan Jeet Singh Kala, changed party loyalties and joined the BJP on Wednesday.
With Kala’s move, BJP’s strength in the MC House rose to 14, equal to AAP, while that of Congress decreased further to six. The main opposition party in MC before the December 2021 elections, Congress could secure only eight of the 35 seats.
Its tally soon dropped to seven as Harpreet Kaur Babla, along with her husband, Devinder Singh Babla, a former Congress councillor, joined the BJP after a public spat with Chawla.
Soon after the polls, Babla, Harmohinder Singh Lucky and Youth Congress president Manoj Lubana had targeted party’s top leadership for its drubbing. The allegations were of poor selection of candidates and Chawla not making “enough efforts” in campaigning for the party. Even his son, Sumit Chawla, had lost the polls.
Soft-spoken and often termed a “gentleman politician”, Chawla was obvious choice for the president’s post due to his grasp over MC politics and proximity to Bansal. However, now a section of Congress leaders say he was asked to resign to make way for young blood. However, those close to him say, he made a conscious decision in the party’s interest.
Soon after his appointment, his predecessor, Pardeep Chabra, had joined the AAP, along with some leaders, while blaming Bansal. The party could never emerge from the damage caused thereafter and eventually lost the polls to the AAP and the BJP.
The defeat, second in a row, came after Bansal also lost two MP elections in 2014 and 2019 to BJP’s Kirron Kher. Party insiders say they will have to start from the scratch to win the 2024 parliamentary polls as AAP’s entry has further made things worse for the party’s prospects.
